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Every startup and small business has a story to tell, something
that will connect potential customers to your brand. As a
business leader in the social media age, you have an opportunity
to draw devoted customers by rethinking the way you express your
company’s core value.

Foodily, a new online recipe database, set
out to brand themselves as the largest recipe aggregator on
the web. But after hiring LoveSocial, a Vancouver-based
social
media agency, they realized that wasn't the story to tell.

Founder Azita Ardakani redefined Foodily's core value, saying it
gives you the opportunity to spend more time eating at home with
family and friends. On social media, she asked consumers to share
their favorite dinner table memories and what it means to them to
eat at home. "We saw a natural conversation erupting," she says.

What made Ardakani’s interpretation of Foodily's core value so
much more successful was that it created an opportunity for human
connection. "Human connectivity is the DNA of social media,"
Azita says.

In order to engage customers, strive to create that emotional
pull. Try these three tips to articulate your core value and
humanize your brand.

1. Expand your idea of value. To stand out
in today's market, define your value in human terms, not in
business terms. "[Companies] often look at their core value in
direct correlation with sales," Ardakani says. "That commercial
carrot is very distracting to who they are and who they could
become."

Your real value is about what you believe in, what you’re trying
to do in the world, and how you make others’ lives better. "You
need to drill down to why you matter," Ardakani says.

You might ask: How is your product being created? What is your
office culture? You're looking for the thing that your
organization truly cares about -- an aspect of your business that
makes you unique and valuable to the world around you.

2. Establish common language. Your company's
core value is a bit like your vision -- everyone at your company
needs to be on the same page. "A CEO and employee might describe
the company totally differently," Ardakani says. "[Common
language] creates internal alignment about who you are."

Ask a handful of people in various ranks and roles to share five
adjectives they'd use to describe the company and two aspects of
the business that are unique or valuable. Look for themes or
especially strong responses, and synthesize them into a clearly
defined description.

3. Give your brand a human voice. Once you know
why you matter and how to describe your value, choose the type of
person that could best deliver that message. "You’re creating a
persona," Ardakani says. Is it feminine or masculine? Mainstream
or quirky? Opinionated or open-minded? If your business was a
human being, who would it be and what would it care about?

That clarity leads to a real and relatable persona that helps you
build a loyal customer base. "The brands that have been most
successful in the social space have humanized their business"
Ardakani says. "They've stayed true to who they are and been
really open and honest."